Verykool s470 – A Dual Sim Android Phone that is Wallet Friendly

Verykool might not be the coolest name for a phone company, but it turns out that their handset lineup is pretty cool after all. Granted, we had never heard of Verykool before we reviewed their S470 smartphone, and we were very skeptical about what the quality of this phone would be like. But we ended up being pleasantly surprised by what a well rounded value this budget handset offers. That is because this Android powered smartphone not only offers some very decent specs for the money, but it’s also a Dual SIM handset.

Spec wise you get a world phone with HSPA support, Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, a respectable 2,000 mAH battery, a 4.7” TFT HD IPS display with a 720p resolution at 313 pixels per inch, an 8 MP rear camera and 2 MP front facing camera, FM Radio and a 1.2 GHz Quad Core Arm processor. The phone’s design itself is pretty uninspiring and ordinary, but it does come in a choice of a black or white back side. That said, the build quality of the device is quite good and feels solid. We have been using it for a few weeks and although the body is made out of plastic, it has been holding out very well. When it comes to the glass display, It’s sharp and clear with good colors and viewing angles, but it’s not as good as the iPhone’s Retina display.

Speaking of the iPhone, Verykool compares the s470 to the Motorola Moto X, Samsung Galaxy S4 and the iPhone 5. On paper, the phone actually does compete quite will with these other popular devices, but we still wouldn’t consider it a premium handset. That said, its killer feature is its dual-sim capability and its affordable $229 price point.

When it comes to apps, you’re getting a pretty pure version of Android, but it also has an easy to use settings page for managing the SIMs. The S470 has two slots to hold two full sized sims. This seems like a bit of an odd choice since most smartphones now use Nano or Micro SIMs. In any case, SIM management on the phone is easy on the s470.

Call quality on the S470 is ok but not great. Our biggest issue is that the speakerphone does not get loud enough. Along those lines, the camera is ok at this price-point and definitely does a lot better in daylight than it does in low light, but colors tend to be washed out. Overall, the camera is not very good, but not too bad for a camera at this price-point.

When it comes to performance, the s470 earned a respectable Quadrant benchmark score of 3898 and in general performance feels quite peppy for most tasks. That said, the system doesn’t handle graphically intense games very well. And it’s really a shame that it’s internal memory is limited to just 1GB instead of 2GB which can lead to memory issues.

Verdict

The killer selling point for the Verykool s470 is that you get solid specs for the money. And unfortunately, dual sim phones are difficult to come by in the U.S., so that makes the s470 not only a compelling mid-range Android offering, but one with a very unique feature. Furthermore, while we were initially very skeptical about what the quality of this phone would be like – the build and overall quality is solid. Those looking for an affordable unlocked Android phone in this price range will want to consider the Moto G as well, but if you’re looking to take advantage of the dual SIM capability, the s470 is pretty much as good as it gets for folks in the U.S.

The Good:Some Impressive specs for the price – including a very good display, Dual-Sim function works well, solid build quality and performance

The Bad:Limited memory, No NFC, uses full size sim which is no longer common, no LTE support, uses older Bluetooth 3.0 and not Bluetooth 4.0 LE, speakerphone volume is too low